Accessibility Links

Enduring love story that began with a girl, a boy and a message in a bottle

By Joanna Bale

January 10 2005, 12:00am, The Times

WHEN ten-year-old Annie Rivet put a message in a bottle and threw it into the English Channel in 1963, she never imagined that the ten-year-old Dutch boy who found it would become such a big part of her life. After 27 years of marriage and two children, however, the couple have told the story of their remarkable relationship for the first time.

Now Mrs Elffers, Annie contacted The Times after a reader in the Questions Answered column asked if anything had ever been achieved by putting a message in a bottle and throwing it into the sea.

Mrs Elffers, now 51, said: “I liked stories about pirates and that’s how I knew about messages in bottles. So when my parents took me to France on…

Want to read more?

Subscribe now and get unlimited digital access on web and our smartphone and tablet apps, free for your first month.